Produced by Adrian Mastronardi, Paul Fernandez and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) [Illustration: HUNTING THE GUANACHO. See p. 70.] THE CAPTIVE IN PATAGONIA; OR, LIFE AMONG THE GIANTS. A PERSONAL NARRATIVE. BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BOURNE. With Illustrations. BOSTON: GOULD AND LINCOLN, 59 WASHINGTON STREET. 1853. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853, by GOULD & LINCOLN, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. STEREOTYPED BY HOBART & ROBBINS, NEW ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDERY, BOSTON. PREFACE. Book-making is so much of a trade, that it may be thought quite unnecessary to be at the trouble to assign reasons for embarking in it; but, as it is not my own vocation, it will be allowed me to say, that the deep interest which many, not only of my personal friends, but others whom I never saw, have taken in my fortunes, and the desires expressed, both verbally and by letter, to know more of my adventures than was communicated through the newspapers, overcame the reluctance I felt to undertake such a task. The interest of personal adventure, however, great as it might be in immediate view of the events while they were fresh, would not alone have been presumed upon as a sufficient attraction for this volume. But the strangeness of the country observed, and the deficiency of exact information concerning its people, it was thought, would make welcome any contribution, however slight, to the knowledge of this section of our world and race. After the contradictory statements of voyagers as to the "giants" of South America, there may be some curiosity to hear the testimony of one who has "seen the elephant" under circumstances that enabled him to measure its proboscis. My story is a plain one,--a simple record of facts, but not, I would hope, tedious. It offers no feats of literary agility for the critic's inspection, but a recital of human experiences and observations, sufficiently aside from the beaten track of life to have attracted a degree of attention which flatters me with the belief that they will repay a nearer and more minute survey. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. For California--Pernambuco--Straits of Magellan--Trading with Patagonians--Their treachery--Four men made prisoners by them--Three escape; the author detained, with promises of release on paying ransom--Indian village--The chief and his household--Eating, sleeping, and adventure in a Patagonian wigwam--Find myself booked for an indefinite residence in Patagonia, and some natural reflections thereupon 25 CHAPTER II.